Officer Perry Recovering After Attack

The family of the young man who attacked him is trying to cope with the loss, and to figure out what happened.The chief and fellow officers are rallying around Officer Junus Perry. He was with his family Wednesday night. A police cruiser was parked in front of his house.

A fellow officer told Action News this is very difficult for Perry, in addition to being hurt, he shot a student, and one reason he was a school cop is because he loved kids.

The family of the boy who died is coming together, trying to deal with his death. They said it's difficult because they are not getting enough information.

It's a painful time for the family of Jesse Carrizales. They're trying to understand what happened, and why. And they claim they are not getting any help from the police, or school district. "A lot of questions. We're upset and we're grieving our mother she's going crazy right now; her more than any, that was her baby. She had eleven children. That was her baby. He was our baby brother and now he's gone," said Elisa Ortega.

The question nobody can answer right now is why this apparently quiet 17-year-old snapped. "What provoked him to do that. If he did that. You know that's what we want to know. What happened?" asked Elisa.

Jesse Carrizales' brother Freddie Ortega said, "There's a couple stories, they said the cop, the probation officer approached Jesse and Jesse had the bat in his hand, I guess, supposedly, and then, the officer shot him. And then I heard another story Jesse hit him over the head when he came out of the office."

His family said Jesse had academic problems in school, but was getting his grades up. They said he also suffered from depression. "He didn't really like to come to school, he was to himself, you know, he was on medication," said Freddie.

Elisa: "He didn't want to go to school today."

An eyewitness said Officer Perry had no choice but to defend himself. He was knocked to the ground and suffered a gash to his head from what police said was a modified baseball bat.

Carrizales family said he had a small novelty bat he got at a Grizzlies game, and had whittled the handle down. Despite the fact the officer was attacked, it's difficult for Jesse's older brother to understand why his brother had to die. "They shouldn't have shot him. They shouldn't have shot my brother."

One witness told us she thought Carrizales tried to get the officer's gun from him, and believes the officer had no choice.